1. It's a beta version, for evaluation purposes only and will expire early in 2007. After that date you won't be able to use it - unless of course you buy the full final release version.

2. By default his version of Office creates files that cannot be read by previous office versions - there's an option to save in an earlier version format, but it's easy to forget.

3. Because it's still in the beta cycle the software may have glitches and bugs. I've been running all the beta versions since testing started - over six months ago now - and in the beginning I experienced several problems with it. Most of the bugs have been eliminated in the beta2 version, and the software is now a joy to use, but don't run it on a mission-critical machine.

Apart from that, I can vouch for the fact that there are some seriously worthwhile improvements. The interface is quite different from what you'll be used to in earlier versions, but it looks great and is friendly once you get the hang of it.